


Phantom Pains

by orphan_account



Series: Rehab AU [1]
Category: Borderlands
Genre: Amputation, M/M, Physical Therapist!Rhys, Physical Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 05:00:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6181243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a pretty horrific incident down on Pandora, Jack has lost his left arm due to some bandits on Pandora, leaving him with a new mechanical arm that he needs help learning how to use properly. Enter Rhys who is his personal physical therapist and ends up taking care of him more than anyone's ever taken care of Jack in his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Phantom Pains

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little drabble for my Rhack Rehab AU. I draw art and stuff for it too over here http://gemodawn.tumblr.com/tagged/rehab%20au

It was painful. _Beyond_ painful. And it made absolutely _**no sense**_ whatsoever. That just made it worse. Rhys had told him, _over and over_ , it was just a phantom pain, that it'd go away over time, but how long did that imply? A year? Two years? _More?_ Jack wasn't sure he could take it much more. No one had ever told him it would get _this_ bad. Not even Rhys, who was supposedly an _**expert**_ in this area. Some physical therapist he'd been.

“ _I want it gone_ ,” Jack demanded angrily, most of that anger being fueled by his pain. “ _ **Now!**_ Fucking taking it off!”

Rhys looked up from the tablet within his hands, watching Jack through his thin glasses with both surprise and confusion, “ _What're_ you talking about Jack?”

Jack raised his left, blue metallic arm, clutching it at the wrist with his flesh hand, “This fucking thing! It keeps-- _**hurting!!**_ ”

“ _I've told you_ ,” Rhys responded sternly, his eyebrows furrowing. “It's a phantom pain, Jack. It'll go awa--”

“ _ **When?!**_ ” Jack shouted. “How **long** do I have to wait?! I just want to have a normal fucking arm that doesn't hurt when it's not even supposed to!”

Pursing his lips, Rhys watched Jack with, what was it...? _Sympathy?_ _**Pity?**_ Jack couldn't tell but he was sure as fuck he didn't want either of it. A sigh was drawn from Rhys as he placed his tablet to the side, standing from where he was sat on the chair in his office. He slowly made his way over to Jack before reaching forward and grabbing... Jack's right arm?

“Let go of it,” Rhys commanded softly, in that weirdly soothing way that always made Jack shudder. When Jack didn't, Rhys urged him, “C'mon, just _trust_ me on this, Jack.”

With a small scowl, Jack did as he said, letting go of his mechanical arm which fell heavily back to his side. The pain had begun to subside slightly, but it was still there, ghostly in its throbbing and shooting pain.

“What the hell are you doing?” Jack asked sincerely but pointedly, truly confused by what Rhys had in mind.

A small smile played on Rhys' lips as he nodded with his head toward his desk, “Come over to my desk and sit down. I want to try something that might help you.”

Without another word, Rhys guided Jack over to his desk, allowing him to settle into the chair before he stepped away. Rhys moved behind his desk, leaning under it to grab something, pulling it up to reveal a box made of mirrors. _A box made of mirrors?_ Now Jack was thoroughly confused.

“ _Okay_ , so you have a mirror box just sitting under your desk?” Jack asked, perhaps even a bit amused at the way that sounded.

“You'll see,” Rhys responded quietly as he brought the box in front of Jack and set it on his desk.

Angling it more to Jack's left, he could see there was a small hole within it, offering an opening to the hollow inside. Jack's pointed eyebrows rose slightly, this situation evolving into even more confusing stages.

“Now, can you lift your left arm and put it into that hole?” Rhys asked, his eyes watching Jack attentively.

A small wry smirk clawed its way onto Jack's lips, “You know how _dirty_ that sounds, right?”

“Jack, _please_ ,” Rhys insisted, rolling his eyes somewhat. “Put your arm in.”

A chuckle vibrated Jack's throat as he complied, slipping his metallic arm within the box, “Not sure what you're trying to accomplish here pumpkin, but I feel thoroughly weirded out right now.”

“ _Good_ ,” Rhys teased. “Now put your other arm up on the desk, beside the box.”

As Jack put his flesh arm onto the desk, it was then that Jack had finally started to understand. And it was _odd_ how it made him feel. In fact, it was odd it was making him feel _anything_ at all. This stupid looking box was actually making him look like he had both his arms.

With widening eyes, Jack took a small breath, “Oh... _Shit._ ”

Rhys held back a chuckle as he reached forward with his hands, tugging back the yellow sleeve of Jack's Hyperion sweater to reveal more of his forearm. Jack was far too invested into the way this silly and dumb looking box was actually starting to trick his brain into thinking he had his other arm back again. He even jumped slightly as he felt the soft skin of Rhys' flesh hand dragging along his bare forearm, making him shiver slightly.

“How does that feel?” Rhys asked softly, watching every bit of Jack's reaction carefully.

Jack looked stunned, the pain starting to fade away into the background in favor of this optical illusion. The more he stared at it, the more he was starting to feel like he had his other arm back and it hadn't been ruthlessly chopped off by bandits.

“ _ **Holy shit**_ ,” Jack finally breathed, letting out a burst of air he hadn't realized he'd been holding. “How the hell...?”

Rhys continued his motions on Jack's arm absently as he explained, “Like I said, it's a phantom pain. There's no concrete explanation why phantom pain happens. But a lot of it can be a mental thing for some people. Looks like for you, that's mostly what it is. Does it still hurt?”

Jack hummed as he was actually enjoying this, he was finally feeling something other than pain in that arm. Even though it wasn't real, it was still nice.

“A little,” Jack admitted finally. He looked up to Rhys then, “Can we do this more often?”

Rhys just smiled, “Sure, Jack. As often as you like.”


End file.
